Follow The Leader
by Rowan Jacobs
Summary: "How long does it take to die?" "It takes your whole life." Oneshot.


**_Song: Matt White - Peter Pan_**

* * *

 _ **"**_ _ **Save you some trouble**_  
 _ **Save you some time**_  
 _ **The night's nearly over**_  
 _ **I don't understand why you can't see the light"**_

Tails didn't mind the tears.

He didn't mind the dwelling or the endless waiting.

Neither did he mind just listening.

About him. About her. About them.

She could usually go on for hours straight with only braking to make them some tea and cookies. But the clock was almost 4 in the morning now. His whole body ached after sitting still for so long - tinkering and listening combined he could manage but he guessed only for so long.

To clear his head Tails looked up from his work and gulped down the rest of the tea she had brought him at some point around midnight. He tuned in on her speaking like a radio frequency, he was ashamed to admit he'd lost her so he tried to look as though he hadn't.

"-sometimes I wonder if he even likes me at all..."

Okay, he clearly missed something here.

"Uh, what?"

Amy was curled up in the window seat opposite him - staring up at the night sky while slowly tracing a finger down the glass.

But she didn't seem to notice his interruption and was still deep in her own monologue.

"Is there something wrong with me...? Am I simply not good enough for him? Why is he hiding behind all those excuses. If he'd just give me a chance... just one tiny chance..."

"Hey, Amy...?"

Her head suddenly turned and Tails was both surprised and saddened when he saw that tears was silently running down her cheeks.

"Oh... I-" his voice failed him.

"It's okay Tails. I'm sorry..." she hastily wiped the tears away and faked a smile. "I rambled again, didn't I?"

 ** _"_** ** _Stars may be blinkin'_** ** _  
_** ** _They're telling me a something_** ** _  
_** ** _You've already got what you've always wanted_** ** _  
_** ** _Baby stop thinking"_**

Tails respected and admired his older brother above all else and would never speak badly of him but... this was something he couldn't admire him for.

Making Amy Rose cry.

He knew Sonic was to some degree oblivious to the power he had over her and hated to hurt her feelings but his actions spoke louder than his words sometimes.

There had been times when Tails found himself questioning Sonic's true intentions regarding Amy but never had he doubted that at the end of the day he'd risk his own life to protect her. He had witnessed Sonic tear through half the globe to save her without a minutes rest and Tails also knew him distancing himself from her was his way of keeping her safe.

Still...

Did that excuse or somehow make it up to all the times he'd let her down, all the times he missed dates or made her cry?

Tails could not think of an answer.

All he could do was pick up the pieces from the cracks his brother left behind - and try to piece them back together.

 ** _"_** ** _Let me start, fix you there with some little repairs_** ** _  
_** ** _All you need is love to spare with some little repairs"_**

Amy interrupted his train of thoughts by walking over, sitting down beside him at the workbench and gently squeezing his left shoulder.

"Tails?" she whispered.

"I'm right here." he answered glancing at her "Sorry, continue."

Amy let out a sigh and absentmindedly began playing with a loose screw while her face got a distant look.

"I bought a new dress..."

He looked her over and she was indeed wearing a different dress than her regular red one. This one was white and lacey but now due to the grease, oil and thin layer of dust that harboured his workshop - it looked just about as he guessed Amy felt.

Woeful and neglected.

"It's nice." Tails said in a lame attempt to sound encouraging. "I'm sure Sonic would like it."

"You really- really think so?" she choked on her words.

"Positive."

In reality Tails had no clue what his older brother would think of it and truth be told he doubted Sonic would even take notice if Amy one day decided to wear a trashbag as attire. But in a way it eased his own conscious by telling her things Sonic wouldn't or rather couldn't say to her.

 ** _"_** ** _He's Peter Pan love and you need a grown up_** ** _  
_** ** _He played too rough_** ** _  
_** ** _He ripped your heart and you can be sought off"_**

Amy uttered what Tails guessed was a mix of a laugh and sob - she looked at him in the eyes and said with a defeated tone-

"Sometimes I don't know what we should talk about, you and me."

"Why don't you tell me what you're thinking."

"I think about the roses that are tearing me apart from the inside."

Tails didn't smile instead he simply asked-

"How long does it take to die?"

"It takes your whole life."

The little composure Amy had mustered then burst and she leaned on the young fox's shoulder and cried her fragile heart out.

Again, Tails didn't mind the tears.

He felt content with just sitting there and patting her back because he knew there was nothing he could say that would make these or future tears from falling. They would come and all he could do for both Sonic and her was to continue to let them.

Over the years Amy and Tails had formed a close friendship that built on a mutual understanding that they were the only two people in the world that resided in the heart of the wind. They were both important. Too important. Which often caused them to be put on the sidelines and left behind when danger swept the wind away.

Amy vented her sadness on him and Tails in his turn channeled his through work. It was an agreement that was never spoken or even known to anyone but themselves - still it was something that kept them together, kept them from going insane.

 ** _"_** ** _Follow the leader_** ** _  
_** ** _Go where I take you_** ** _  
_** ** _I want you to see, want you to believe your heart can be like new"_**

Exhaustion suddenly etched itself onto Amy's face and she tore herself from the fox's shoulder to walk back to the window seat. She laid down with her back turned against him but they could still see eachother in the windows reflection.

"I want him to know that I waited the whole night.."

Tails only nodded and finally rose out of his seat to walk over to his little cot located in the far corner of the workshop. He turned off all the lights except for the floor lamp next to Amy.

His head hit the worn out pillow and just as he started to await the sweet release of sleep he glanced over at the hedgehog girl where she lay. The lamp cast a ghastly shadow of her form and for a moment he almost forgot that tomorrow she'd be up and about - continuing the chase. For now he only saw what Sonic would be met with when he came in the morning.

A broken girl with a disheveled dress and a face spotted with tears.

Sonic would mind the tears.

Sonic would mind that she had spent the night dwelling and waiting for him to come.

But he wouldn't listen.

About him. About her. About them.

 _ **"**_ _ **I know I fill you up and take your heart and hold it up so much.**_

 _ **Let me start, fix you there with some little repairs**_ _ **  
**_ _ **All you need is love to spare with some little repairs.**_

 _ **Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh."**_


End file.
